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About Kent Miller

Kent brings 16 years of professional experience as a photojournalist and photo into the classroom as an Assistant Professor of Photojournalism and Digital Media in the Department of Journalism at Central Michigan University.

Miller’s photography has been published in numerous magazines including, Nat Geo France, Germany’s View Magazine, England’s Loaded Magazine, Australia’s The Who Weekly, Newsweek, People and Playboy; in newspapers, including USA TODAY, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Detroit Free Press; and in books including America 24/7 and Lonely Planet’s Alaska. Kent's image of Mt. McKinley resides on the tail side of Alaska’s America the Beautiful quarter that was commissioned by the U.S. Mint.

Over the course of his career, Kent has won over 40 international, national

and state photography awards from organizations including National Geographic, The Wilderness Society and the Michigan Press Photographers Association. Kent was awarded Alumnus of the Year from the Columbus Region of Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana.

Kent has been a photographer and videographer for the National Park Service in Alaska since 2008. He also teaches a week-long residential photography course annually for the Denali Education Center. Kent also used his trips to Alaska to establish a Central Michigan University internship program for his students at three different national parks.

His students have won several national and international awards. Photojournalism majors have kept the program in the top five in the nation for the past three years competing in the National Hearst Journalism Awards Program, which is likened to the Pulitzer Prize for students.

Category Archives: Students

Craig took me up today to practice for the CPPA aerial seminar. We have a flight plan in mind that will circle you around campus once and then fly by the casino on our way back. If you want to deviate from it, let us know right away. After you pay the fee, you will be put on a list. You may choose your flight time, first come first serve.

This is my daughter, Betsy, 8, during takeoff on her first small aircraft flight. You may feel the same. This is where I will be sitting and coaching you. We will communicate through headsets. Put the mic right up against your mouth. It is voice activated. If you can hear yourself then we can hear you too.

This is Craig Beins. He is an amazing pilot. So good at understanding what you want to accomplish. I have worked with Craig for 10 years. Never came back without a picture. He is going to circle you around campus. Be ready as soon as you get on the plane. Bring two bodies if you can. Don’t forget to put your camera strap around your neck!

Do not shoot this type of scene. It is too loose. Nothing to hold your attention. Just information. Nothing more. Nothing interesting.

Shoot tighter. Look for good composition. Look at the light. Shoot lots! And by the way. Open the window. The wind will keep it up in the air.

It’s really no different than shooting out of your car traveling around 100 miles per hour. It’s windy. You will need to hold on to your camera tightly. You will need a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 of a second. I suggest aperture priority. Lens at it’s widest aperture. Set the ISO to get the shutter speed. Do not rest the camera on the window and do not rest your body on the back of the seat. Sit up straight and shoot out the window without touching anything. You will avoid heavy duty vibrations.

Don’t forget to shoot verticals.

I prefer to use an 80-200 2.8 lens. If you shoot Canon, I will have it with me to lend you. If you shoot Nikon, you can use mine. Auto focus is fine to use. Make sure your focus is on Continuous for Nikon or AI for Canon.

Shoot tight. Look for good angles and good light.

Continue shooting and using your zoom to compose. Notice this one is wider than the one above?

Don’t shoot directly overhead like this. Notice the strut in the way on the right? Shoot to the right of it instead of in front of it.

Shoot farther away and lower like this (compare to picture above).

Looks like the Chips are working hard to make up for last Saturday.

Saw it. Opened the window. Shot it.

This is where you will meet us.

It will be exhilarating, and educational. If you are timid of flying, don’t worry, you will be focused on the task at hand. Who knows. Maybe someday you will specialize in aerial photography!

Eleven of my students participated in my first Aerial Seminar on November 7, 2009. Expert pilot Craig Beins took each student up from Mt. Pleasant Airport for their first time photographing various areas in the Mt. Pleasant area. Each student had 15 minutes to photograph the area they desired, including Central Michigan University, the casino, farm lands, homes, and places they are shooting for class assignments. It was so great to see the smiles on their faces as they made pictures from 1,000 feet up in the sky.

Sihang Zhang poses in the hallway just before my students set out in groups with pocket wizards, strobes, light stands and umbrellas. F5.6 at 1/200, ISO 400. Strpbe is on half power. 200 mm lens about 40 feet away. The umbrella provides a beautiful soft light espcially when fairly close to your subject.

Nate Kostegian, right, and Joe Tobianski set up a light in the hallway of CMU’s new education building. F6.3 at 1/80th. 70mm lens. Slower shutter speed to lighten background.

Studio student, Krista Tacey, brought in her childhood piggy bank and set this up during a hands on still life exercise. An SB 800 Nikon Speedlight was used with a Lumiquest Softbox III. A gobo was used to darken the background and eliminate a distracting reflection. In this case the gobo was a black piece of foam core held underneath the light and between the light and the piggy bank. The image was cropped slightly all around the scene to add impact.

In class last Wednesday, my JRN 420 students and I had a fun time photographing each other as an exercise for studio portraits (see their blogs above). While this is a mug shot and not the type of photos we are trying to make, these do illustrate what each light does. Four lights were used for the top left photo. The main, fill, rim, and background lights. We turned off one light at a time to see how each strobe affects the lighting. The rim light was turned off for the top right photo. Then at bottom left, we turned off the background light. At bottom right the fill light was turned off. Try to imagine what Aliscia would look like if lights were turned off in a different sequence. What purpose does each light serve?

Compare the two photos below. The top photo was shot bouncing the flash on the wall to Martha’s left. The bottom photo was taken with the flash turned around and aimed directly at her. Huge difference! The reason the light is so soft in the top photo is because the light source was about 6 to 8 feet in diameter coming from the wall. In comparison, the bottom photo’s light source was extremely narrow at about one inch by three inches. Notice also the fall off of the broad light lit up the background while the harsh lit photo had little fall off keeping the background dark. Also, with the broad light source the intensity diminishes. Notice the five stop difference between the exposure for each photo. Which do you prefer? Why?

Peggy Kelsey spent over an hour with my class speaking about her travels to Afghanistan. She showed images of daily life in afghanistan and portraits of women. She had amazing stories. She even spent some time in a women’s prison. One highlight of her visit was allowing some of us to try on a real burqa. It made me claustrophobic! Kelsey traveled to Afghanistan in August and September of 2003, returning with photographs and interviews of 40 women. They are of various ages and come from differing social classes, ethnic groups and areas of the country. Currently, 21 of the women form an exhibit at the Park Library at Central Michigan University, that also includes their biographies and excerpts from their interviews.

The annual journalism awards banquet at Central Michigan University is a highlight of the year for many students and honorees. The program is a special time to honor those who have won journalism awards, received scholarships, and to recognize the distinguished alumnus. This year, award winner, Tom Montgomery was honored. Tom has hired and mentored many CMU journalism interns at the Cass City Chronicle who have gone on to promising careers. Also, my colleague and mentor, professor John Palen wasÂ recognized for his many years of service as he enters retirement.